Street signs are often employed by shopkeepers to display messages in front of their stores, or in aisles to display various messages to their customer. Occasionally, these signs are located outside of the building, and frequently, they are used to display advertisements at drive-in type facilities, such as service stations, quick service installations, and the like. Particularly when these types of signs are used outside, wind has a tendency to cause their bending, under the force exerted by shifting winds, and signs of this type are generally constructed to give with the wind pressure, and hopefully avoid turning over, and further avoid cracking or breaking, even over a period of time. These street signs generally include a sign panel supported by a base assembly having legs. The legs, however are generally fixed. Because the legs are fixed, it is difficult to pass the sign through doorways and other constricted areas. Further, these signs are often exposed to weather conditions, as previously explained, and particularly wind, that has an adverse impact upon the useful life of the signs. The persistent swaying action upon the sign that the wind produces causes fatigue at the lower portion of the sign, where the sign panel meets the sign retaining or supporting member. Eventually, this fatigue causes the panel to fail, either completely breaking off or impairing its ability to stand vertically. Other prior art signs have attempted to overcome this wind problem, but each has features that either renders the sign expensive to produce, or causes unfortunate occurrences, such as excessive motion of the sign which makes it difficult to read.
Various types of signs and their constructions, for use for display purposes. can be found in the prior art. For example, the patent to Capper, U.S. Pat. No. 2,467,187, discloses a weighted pivotal sign, which is designed primarily to provide for the pivotal movement of its sign portion, in order to accommodate wind gusts. The patent to Sarkisian, U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,696, discloses a similar type of poster display device, which is spring mounted, for the purpose of providing means for reducing the effects of lateral forces that normally have a tendency to topple the display device. The U.S. Pat. to Stoudt, No. 5,079,861, discloses a quick set-up sign stand, where its apparently wind resistant sign is mounted to a leg assembly. Another patent to Stoudt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,031, shows a related type of sign and flag holder. It has an upwardly extending pair of plates, for elevating the shown sign. A further patent to Stoudt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,321, shows a quick set-up sign stand. The patent to Seely, U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,714, shows a portable wind-resistant sign stand with flexible bow-type legs. The patent to Thomson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,541,200, shows a further type of sign stand. The patent to Webb, U.S. Pat. No. 626,256, discloses a storm proof sign, that is supported upon a tiltable type base. The patent to Lyons, U.S. Pat. No. 3,422,556, shows an identifying marker held by a base member. Another patent to Sarkisian, U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,482, shows a related type of apparatus identified as a poster display device. The patent to Ilillstrom, U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,536, discloses a mounting bracket coil spring for a sign. Another patent to Sarkisian, U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,053, discloses an adjustable sign mounting bracket. The patent to Seely, U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,379, discloses a compact sign and stand. Another patent to Seely, U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,499, discloses a deflectable sign and stand. A further patent to Seely, U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,879, shows another compact sign stand. The patent to Grewe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,892, shows a further type of spring biased mounted sign and sign stand. A further patent to Sarkisian, U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,040, discloses a related type of development upon a two-sides display device. The patent to Kubacki, U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,964, discloses a display sign with collapsible support base.
A further patent to Seely, U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,344, discloses a portable wind resistant sign stand with flexible sign. Finally, reissue patent U.S. Pat. No. Re.32,359, also to Seely, shows a portable wind-resistant sign stand with flexible sign.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,921, and which is owned by a common assignee to this application, discloses a mounting arrangement for wind deflectable bending sign. U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,642, and which is also owned by a common assignee to this current application, shows a type of foldable sign. In fact, it its the improvements made to means for attaching the bottom of the sign to its base, as disclosed in this patent, that constitutes one of the innovations of this current invention.